Songs in the Night
by Zergface
Summary: A botched wargame leaves Alpha Co. of the 1-99 INF enveloped by portals… and monsters. With the rest of Earth cut off by military quarantine, the only way out for "Doc" may be through the belly of the beast.
1. Wargames

That night I dreamt of moonlight in the fog, the fog between the pines, soft, whistling wind crackling summer leaves, but with air on skin and cicadas so loud, I knew my reality was here. And in a way... that's what scared me.

Alpha Company of the 1-99 had suffered a rude awakening just an hour ago because third platoon's observation post relayed back something about coyotes getting really close. Yeah, coyotes in the north. Not a big deal. Right?

Wildlife running amuck wouldn't be a problem for me, or the entirety of fourth platoon, for that matter, with all of us already quite used to grumbling into 100% security.

But that night was different. I wouldn't be telling you this if it were just a normal wargame, FTX, whatever you want to call it, right?

You know what all this is about, don't you? I'll admit that it's been a while since it all started but I'll humor you for now, I guess.

So, Alpha company was split in half to do some wacky-ass field exercise in the middle of nowhere (I don't even know where exactly, but it had to be somewhere in New England) that only the battalion commander could think would be a good idea. At the time I didn't know who the hell up the chain approved it but the company got split in half - first and second platoons on one team, third and fourth on the other.

I was with fourth platoon doing line medical duty, but some bright mind decided that everyone involved - support guys and line guys - were to be up and at it for full battle rattle 24/7. We all set up a patrol base in the middle of nowhere and got told to hurry up and wait, probably to gear up to shoot one another during the day. But yeah, they put me in a foxhole with _live_ _ammo_ to point at people in our _own_ _unit_.

Red flags should be popping off for you right now. I'll tell you that my first alarm bell rang when, a week beforehand, we did all this dumb admin stuff that went on and on about strict confidentiality to the point where they just went up and took my phone right then and there. Didn't even have a choice in the matter. Couldn't say nah, not a fan. I'd rather do normal army stuff.

But no, we shut up and color. And I guess where I'm at now is a result of such complacency.

Well, here's the deal. About the coyotes, that stuff. The RTO in the command element had told the sergeant in charge of third platoon that those guys in the observation post didn't think they heard coyotes. But the RTO, Grenald, and 3rd PLT's SGT, Duncan, were the type of guys to lie about formation times just to get us in line half an hour early - so yeah, not the most trustworthy. Or honest. Coyotes? Could've been the ice cream truck.

But as the word got around to my section of the patrol base I couldn't help but start to get worried. Coyotes didn't bite people, did they? No, they didn't. I knew for sure that wolves didn't attack people either so yeah, things should be good. I was sure of it.

But yeah, I know how sleepy I was at the time. Trust me, you wouldn't want to put a gun in my hands for the life of you if you were in my shoes. It was what, four days since I had more than four hours of consecutive sleep? I don't know. Ask my buddy, err…

He's dead now, but still. If you were to ask him he'd definitely tell you that everyone was irritated, exhausted and not in their right minds. That made sense. Our platoon was always taking up the grunt work in every sense of the word, all through the day and all through the night. Carrying dumb stuff around, UPU duty, pulling security, you name it. First sergeant hated us - I'm sure of it.

Anyways, we weren't all together that night. You have to understand how it must've been for us when the gunshots started going off.

It was what… ten, twenty minutes after we were supposed to wake up? I lost track of time, and due to the darkness (and the way my arms were tangled with my backpack and my weapon) I couldn't really check my watch. Light and noise discipline was still on full send because OPFOR, 2nd and 1st platoons, were supposed to be maybe… just one kilometer away, I'm not sure. I wasn't the one with the map.

Yeah, you heard me. No GPS or anything remotely modern. Commander didn't want us calling mom on any decent radios. (We had some guys that were wild with radios - don't ask me how they did it but one guy called out to Montana with that little thing.)

So you know how I told you we got live ammo, right? I started hearing shots in the night real loud and thought to myself all sorts of rational things like 'holy shit!' 'Someone might have just fucking died!' and 'man, I'm hungry.'

I squished my earpro into my ears real fast as my buddy took aim at a lump of dirt with his M4A1. Through the muzzle flashes and the moonlight his barrel reflected my face. For a second I saw fear - but then he started shooting too.

"What the fuck are you shooting at?" I shouted, keeping my head low as I took my own rifle off safety and pointed it into the woods.

"I don't know!" My buddy replied, gritting his teeth. "I saw something move over there!"

"You're retarded!" I screamed over the gunshots ringing all around. Smoke from our freshly lubricated weapons clogged up the already foggy night air, suffocating me in the scent of war.

I kept myself against the dirt between some busted up tree and next to my buddy, who was still popping off rounds like nobody's business. To this day I still think he was just shooting shadows. He was such a scaredy cat.

"Contact! Contact at the 6 o'clock apex!" Some dude cried off to our right, voice muffled by the influx of 'bang's that rang throughought.

"I see one, two, four guys to my eleven o'clock, twenty-five meters!" Another guy yelled.

"What the fuck?" I tried grinning at the utter confusion that had grappled everyone. Watching the leaves I wondered what the hell was going on.

"Do you see it?" My buddy beside me kicked at my ankle.

"No. I'm blind." I affirmed, squinting towards where my buddy was pointing his weapon. "Yeah, no, I really don't see anything."

"Bitch! More to the left!"

Adjusting my gaze leftwards found my eyes laid upon something that most certainly didn't not fit the bill of 'two to four guys' or your typical 'contact'.

I don't even know what it was. I blinked and it was there, not in a good mood, and in the moonlight between the leaves it was all just a blur.

So I shot it.

Not just once, but twice, but I just lied because I actually shot it like ten times. Because fuck you, that's why.

"Die! Die! Why won't you die!" I blurted as my weapon's hot brass smacked my buddy in the face.

"Chill out!" He snapped. "Stop it!"

I squinted and the thing was gone. Well, there were like some bits and pieces of what might've been glitter in the air, but that's just about it.

"The fuck did it go?" I muttered, heart beating, blood rushing, eyes wide open and ready to fucking shoot some more.

"Dude, it's gone."

"Yeah, no shit." I barked over the screams and flinging bullets of my platoon-mates. "So it died?"

"I don't know." He shouted. "It's gone."

"Yeah, no shit!" I said again, furrowing my brows as if it weren't obvious. Because fuck, I had no idea what these things were at the time and you better believe me when I say that I thought I was tripping shit.

"I can't tell you if it's dead because it's gone!" My buddy underscored, wild eyed and messed up.

Yeah, what the fuck, right? Bad guys don't just disappear like that. They go somewhere. Like down. Down onto the ground full of bullet holes. But this guy didn't. He disappeared. Forgive me for restating the obvious but wow, this guy just… disappeared. Gone. And to see that for real is baffling beyond belief.

"I think I need to see a doctor." I whined.

"Aren't you supposed to be our doctor?"

"No."

My buddy nodded. "Sure. Sure."

"Medic! Fuck… Medic!" Someone bellowed at the top of their lungs, far out to our right.

"One sec." I grumbled, springing to my feet.

"Yeah, fuck you too, Doc." My buddy trained his weapon into the woods again, knowing that I might be gone for a long time. That was the last time I saw him alive.

After picking myself off the ground and flicking my weapon back on safe, I decided that a good idea would be making it to the caller of my name, but the problem would be the precarious lack of lighting and the fact that there were many things on the ground such as rocks, sticks, and ditches that may cause an individual to fall and break their spine.

I opted to creep towards the call, which probably was a dick move but hey, my excuse remains. It's a legit excuse. I just didn't want to hurt myself. I can't help others if I can't help myself. I couldn't. I… can't.

By the time I got to the guy it was…bad, I guess. He was leaning up against a tree, and in the moonlight I saw that his assigned partner had been decapitated and tossed into a bush. The guy in need of help was missing his right forearm. That was bad.

"Holy shit." I muttered, mouth agape and bones frozen solid.

"Doc," he looked at me with beady old eyes. This was Duncan, the poor sergeant in charge of third platoon. I never saw him so… vulnerable before. I remember shuddering for what felt like forever, watching him watch me. "Doc, I can't feel my arm."

"That, yeah, that's not good." I knelt down and ignored the sweat creeping over my cheeks as I broke out my medic bag. "Not good, Duncan. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you." His voice was rushed, his breathing was rapid, heart rate probably wicked high from a burst of adrenaline and the fact that the gushing blood was coming out fast, in burps. "I can hear you. I can hear you."

"Duncan," I put my medic bag aside, next to my weapon before I reached over to rummage through his IFAK. Securing his tourniquet, I placed it in his free hand. "Can you put this on yourself real quick? Can you do that for me?"

I eyed the brush, seeing little in the limited moonlight. Things were definitely moving out there. Moving through the cracks of guns and the stench of chaos in the air. I knew it, I couldn't see it but I knew it.

"I, I," He started speaking, coughing blood as he tried. "I don't know Doc. I don't know. I don't know, Doc."

To my left a guy fired in my direction - killing some creature right in front of me before I even saw it. I saw the glitter, the specks, but no more as I looked down again.

"Okay." I nodded, thinking fast. So, this place isn't safe. Nowhere seemed safe. I thought I should definitely try to secure the position so I can treat Duncan, but the guy was losing a lot of blood. The fact he was coughing blood meant that his lungs got busted up too. I didn't have a chance to do an assessment in this situation but-

"Doc, Doc," Duncan cried. "I can't see, Doc, I can't see."

"You're going into shock," I reassured him, swooping towards the sergeant once more. The tourniquet was limp in his hand when I pulled it out from under him. "That's normal, Duncan. Everything that's happening is normal."

I undid the appliance as fast as I could as I wrapped it over his… bitten off arm? Tightening it as hard as I could, I heard Duncan cough some more. He was trying to talk.

"Sergeant, I need you to lie on your side - your left side." I tried to ease him off the tree but he didn't want to budge.

"Doc," He whimpered. I could hardly hear him due to how loud everything was. "Doc, a wolf just ate my... arm. This… isn't… normal."

"You're right." I reassured him, looking into his eyes. "Things are crazy."

"I…" He started, only to get cut off by more and more people calling my name.

I had to go.

Duncan looked at me. He was having trouble thinking straight. Trouble breathing. I don't know if I got the tourniquet on well enough, but there just wasn't time to check it out.

I had to go.

So I went. I didn't look back. I didn't say anything. At least, if I did I probably wouldn't tell you. I don't like thinking about these things. It keeps me up at night, I'll admit it. But tough things are tough, yeah, and I guess if you want me to go into more detail I will.

But fuck you. Honestly, fuck you. You want to hear my story, sure. I'll be happy to oblige. But I'm not going where I don't want to go anymore, not right now. Just give me time beforehand next time.

Fuck.

…

…

Sorry. I… fuck.

Look, his name was Gwen. My buddy. The guy in the foxhole with the stupid smile and the fear of shadows in the night. We talked a lot in the night to stay awake in the dark and no, I didn't come back to him that night. I didn't. I was... afraid he'd talk to me again. Like he does now.

* * *

So what, that was… Thursday night into Friday, and yeah. By morning it was all jacked up. All of us were messed up. Confused. Lost. Tired. Mourning.

I don't even know if I made it that night. But you're reading this now, so I guess that attests for something.

You know what happened next. You're the one on the outside, with the phone, computer, internet and whatnot. The news. CNN. Fox. Whatever, pick your poison.

The fucking exclusion zone, right? I don't even know if there's a name for it on the outside. But all the rumors you hear about it? All the wild shit, the portals, the monsters, people, magic shit, those things?

It's real. All of it and more.

Look, the portals, there's four of them. Rumor among the last of us has it they're by each platoon's patrol base. Been like that for the past week. Actually, I saw a dragon came out of 2nd platoon's portal two days ago, got blown up by some sort of missile - but that's beside the point. Look, I know I just got ahold of this radio and what I'll do might just fuck me up, but listen to me.

I'm going to go through one. I'll come back exactly two hours after I go in. If I'm not back by then, then I don't know. I don't know, okay? I'm just done living off dead men's MREs and watching creatures shift between the trees for too damn long. I hate it. I don't like it.

If I can't leave the area, then damn, might as well go the one way I can.

Let's see… right now I'm up in the big tree to the south. It's by the little creek and right where that major hill starts forming, the ridge, I mean. You can't miss it.

I'm going to stash my stuff down here and if you find it, it's yours. I have journals, Ipswich's disposable camera and pictures, and what else… nothing you might find interesting, I guess. Oh, three hundred or so dirty dollars, if that's what you want.

Anyways, the few guys here and there won't touch my stuff. We respect one another that much. But the guys on the outside? You, the army, those kinds of guys? You might want it.

I've been studying the creatures where I can, I saw some people pass through one of the portals once. Not our people. Walsh caught a picture of them with Ipswitch's camera - at least I think it was him who took the picture. I found it in his pocket, anyways.

But still. That information might be important if this containment spot goes to shit. And I don't know if I'm coming back.

So yeah, good luck to you. And to me, I guess.

See you tomorrow. Or maybe never. I don't know.

**TZZST! **

* * *

**ATTENTION! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY SERVICE BROADCAST BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND NEW YORK ARMY NATIONAL GUARD. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS MESSAGE, YOU ARE IN AN AREA THAT IS UNABLE TO BE EVACUATED AT THIS TIME. REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES. CLOSE THE BLINDS. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE. ENSURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH WATER FOR THREE TO FIVE DAYS. **

**STAY INDOORS. REMAIN CALM. HELP IS ON THE WAY. **

**THIS MESSAGE WILL REPEAT ON THIS CHANNEL UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. **

**...**

…

…

Somewhere in the woods, deep in the midst of a forlorn campsite and beneath a star scattered sky, two girls lie hunched over some unfortunate soul's radio.

"Do you know what that means, Iffy?"

The static laced message droned on, mixing with the wind and the cicadas to cast one long lost aura over the world.

"I don't know, Compa. But I'm not coming back home without some answers."

* * *

**Authors note:**

**Army life leaves me busy for the week- updates should come each sunday, if not earlier.**

**I do hope you enjoyed - finally have time to get back into writing dumb stuff. You might not know me, maybe you do... either way, I'm glad you're here now. Good reads ought to be in store. **

**For those in the know: _the Zdis is back._**

**Hop in at Discord code: ****j45ppxh**

**Everyone's here. You're invited for a world of writing - and more. **

**But yeah. Thanks for reading - stick around and you might find yourself having a good time.**


	2. Static

I shouldn't have to tell you that getting from point A to point B was a struggle so I'll spare you the details. Just know that it was slow, quiet, and uneventful. I mean, that's if you ignore the screaming and 'running for your life' that totally didn't happen.

Point is, I (eventually) made it to the portal. This one was the one by my old platoon… and man it was just a really weird place to be.

Whole place was desolate as fuck. Quiet. Eerie. Dark. No birds, no mosquitoes, no nothing - dead silence save for the breeze and the leaves. The stench of stale MREs, decomposing friends and a hint of mint, for some reason, lie festering about the ruins of the campsite.

I wondered if Gwen was still in our foxhole. I wondered what he would look like now, after days in the shade, days alone amongst the cicadas, the monsters… he'd tell me to chin up like always. I know it. He'd tell me it wasn't my fault but every time he said that it was because he'd be trying to make me feel better, not because it was the reality, and we'd inadvertently have a good laugh over whatever stupid stuff happened but in the end, in the end, now, here, where I am, where he is… I don't know.

I…

I kept moving. I kept going. I couldn't bring myself to look. I couldn't, okay? I couldn't. That's it. That's it.

I kept going to the portal. That's my goal. To get out of here. To move on, to go. I have to go.

For them. For living. Right?

I… nevermind.

The portal itself, a weird, floaty orb of purple, wasn't too tall or wide but it was definitely big enough to fit that dragon that I saw the other day. Oh man. That thought right then and there made me think.

All these weird monsters came from here. All the things that turned life upside down, the things that swiped my people out from under me. Dragons, lizards, pixel shit - all of that and more I have yet to see, I bet.

I wanted to stand there for a moment, just admire the thing, watch it… glow, I guess. I just couldn't help myself. Something so unnatural, so alien, something that was just so out of this world.

But I couldn't.

It had something to do with the 'running for my life' thing that totally didn't happen.

But yeah. Anyone in my place would definitely have just run through, right? That's the normal, sane person idea. Because I'm normal. I'm okay.

* * *

Have you ever crossed worlds before? Entered an alien realm? I bet you ten bucks you haven't. If you have, congrats! You know what it's like to implode. No words. Just some... synesthesia of the soul.

But the bottom line is that it sucks.

Yeah. Maybe you had a different experience crossing worlds or maybe my portal was defective, but I ended up lying in the grass of some middle-of-nowhere field, portal behind me. I was just a little nauseous.

I'm kidding. I wanted to puke my balls out.

I say that because I totally didn't puke my balls out. But on the floor. For maybe like twenty minutes. Convulsing.

It sucked.

But by the end of it, things weren't too bad. I was expecting some nefarious lair, some underground demon cave, or just some evil dude's secret lab. Those are normal evil monster locations. A field in the middle of nowhere? Not really high on the 'grr I'm gonna kill you' meter.

So the portal was in some wacky clearing on the side of a hill. A petty calm place to be fair, considering that this wasn't a monster breeding ground or anything of that sort. Due it it being around midday, the sight of a lush, vibrant green forest seemed to stretch on forever - all of it radiating brilliantly in the sunlight. From the hillside I watched a river run down the left flank and towards a valley, past some fields and in the distance, far, far away, I think I saw some man made structures. Like a city.

Behind me, the hillside was more or less obstructed by the trees but past them, tall and stolid, protruded a mountain range bearing snow capped cliffs and a thickly forested waist.

The world smelled of sweet, cool greens… like nature, like… normal. No more stale MREs. No more exhaust, gun fumes, rotting bodies.

But yeah, the first thing to come to mind was the fact that I wasn't dead and there weren't a million demon children rushing to nibble my fingers away. Or rats. Or blue slimes. Fuck blue slimes.

Second thing to come to mind was that there was a guy standing there. In the treeline. Silent. Studious. Watching me sit there. Watching me puke. What an asshole.

"Hey!" I called out to him. I couldn't really see him due to the shadows between the trees, but he was definitely creepy. "You!"

Despite my reluctance I raised a hand, frowning. This guy didn't hear me?

"Dude!" I staggered to my feet using the stock of my weapon as a crutch. "You hear me?"

At that call he started walking my way all formal like. Back rigid, arms swinging, it was almost as if he were trying to march.

Oh, this guy was army. Not a native. Not an alien. Not a monster. I could decipher his character by the way he moved, how his OCPs were done, by his presentation - he meant business. Either that or he was feigning it. What was he doing on this side of the portal?

"I hear you," As he got close, this guy spoke like a brick if bricks could talk. Was he putting up some sort of farce? "I just couldn't make out your rank earlier."

"My rank?" I raised an eyebrow. Now on my feet, I spat out what was left of the vomit in my mouth, wiping my lips with a filthy sleeve.

"Yes…" He squinted, trying to see the rank on my chest. "Did you… did you tear your rank off?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you do that, soldier?" He inquired, eyes narrow, peering into my soul with crossed arms. Oh, I just noticed he wasn't carrying a weapon. Odd.

"Because… I dunno."

I wanted to say 'fuck you' but I figured that would leave a pretty piss poor first impression. But hey. I have my reasons why I tore the patches off my uniform. The rank, the nametapes, the flag… it's personal.

I'll tell you later if you're still interested. If I can trust you. But not now.

"And the cussing, soldier?" At this point this guy was just seething with some stick up his ass. Cussing? What's his deal?

I tried to see his nametape so I could call him something other than 'guy,' but his crossed arms guarded his identity. And his rank. Wait, no, his rank was there, right over his sleeves.

A sergeant. I think. Something's not right about his rank. It looks… scrawny? Scratchy? Like one of the chevrons were okay but the others looked poor. Hard to explain, it's just… offsetting.

"Cut it out, dude. What are you doing here?" I stole looks around the environment. Large danger areas were not good places to be. "We should move. Too exposed."

"No, we can talk." He said as a matter of fact. "It's safe here. Answer my question, soldier."

Safe here? His questions? What a guy.

At this point I genuinely hope he was throwing up some sort of facade. No one talks like that. No one normal, at least.

"It literally doesn't matter. It doesn't." I urged. "But fuck, dude, we've been in the shit for forever now, and you're concerned about swears?"

"Professionalism takes no excuses." He growled. "You think I've been having a nice day myself, battle? The moment you forget your values, who are we? Who do we become. Have some integrity."

Oh, he's one of those guys. He just called me 'battle.' Yeah. This is where you draw the line and play 'stay the fuck away from me.'

But time was bleeding. Who knows what was out here? I needed information, I needed safety, I needed a lot of things - and chit chatting in the danger zone was not on target.

So swallow your pride with me here, step in my shoes, let me know how you would word your way through this asshole.

"Alright." I sighed. "My apologies. No more bad words."

He didn't seem to accept my apology but I didn't really care to be honest. I just needed answers.

"So," I continued. "As members of a team, do you think you can help me out here?"

Huh. The guy smirked and lowered his arms. Made sense he'd be receptive towards that hooah army stuff.

"Sure. Come with me, I've got a hooch set up by the treeline."

With a wave he led me towards the woods. Some clouds had come from the north and patches of the fields grew dark from the cover. This almost seemed like a normal countryside. Almost.

"Monsters here are a lot more tame, believe it or not." He gestured by the side of a tree - he had some sort of fighting position dug into the dirt. The top was covered in a layered covering of branches and leaves, camouflaging it into the ground. "They seem to ignore you if you keep your distance. From here I've been watching the portal."

From the edge of the woods there was a good view of the portal. Pretty inconspicuous, too. I had no idea this was here from a distance… he did a good job setting this spot up.

"Yeah, they like to go through the portal for some reason." He knelt by the hooch, pointing at the orb that led home. "It's like it attracts them. They just make a beeline to it like it's some sort of pilgrimage."

I crouched down by him, using my weapon to keep my balance.

"You've been the only soldier I've seen come through in a few days. Maybe three." He turned towards me. From this distance I could get a good look at the guy, and man, he was dirty. Mud across the face, acne breakout before the ears… he hadn't been taking good care of himself - but that's more than understandable. "You know, battle, I've come to think that I was the last one left."

"Don't be stupid." I frowned. For a moment I thought of Duncan and how this guy seemed a lot like him. Minus his arm. Minus his eyes. His voice. I shook my head. Hard.

"Hooah." He grinned.

Okay. Can this guy shut the fuck up? I shouldn't have to explain myself when I say that no one should ever be this man. Holy. Shit.

"We're tougher than that." Yeah, he definitely seemed to misinterpret my berating. "Little hiccup ain't gonna bring us down."

"So," I raised my voice, ignoring him. "What happened to the guys that came through?"

"You know." He shrugged. "Went off into the woods. Some were looking for a way out of hell. Some were curious. Some just wanted an escape. None ever came back. One said he could come back to me after checking out a trail to the west but I haven't heard of him since."

"Must be some pretty nasty things out there." I muttered, watching the portal fade and glow, fade and glow, fade and glow…

"You can say that again, soldier." He agreed.

"Actually," the guy looked to me with a curious eye. "Is that a radio on you?"

"Oh, this?" He gestured to a little green pack I had strapped to my back. "Yeah. Brought it instead of my gear. I came here to investigate before going back, figured I won't be here long and hey, radio would be good to browse the airwaves."

I lied. I… wanted to get the hell out of here. You know this. I left the gear because I didn't expect to live long, honestly.

"If you want you can break that down, set it up, see what we've got around us." He nodded. "I'll pull security, though believe me, it's quiet around here."

Pull security without a weapon? Hell. What an idiot. Actually, fuck it. I held my weapon out to him and he gladly accepted it. We'll make do.

"Sure." Might as well roll with the punches. After all, if heading out of this area has a pretty bad track record, probably would be best to not expect different results.

As I started pulling the radio off my back, the man crawled into his foxhole, briskly clearing the weapon as he left space for me to slide in too.

I ducked my head as I got inside, unfurling the device's long antenna through holes in the roof.

It didn't take long to settle down, but almost immediately I felt something against my arm.

"Hey." He nudged me. I heard cicadas cry in the trees, lingering behind his breathing, behind the wind, behind the world unknown. Odd… same cicadas from home.

"What?"

"Call me Shumway."

"Shumway…" I couldn't help but smirk at the name. "You can call me Doc."

* * *

"Compa, I think I'm getting it now."

IF's dark blue overcoat didn't match her alien surroundings one bit. The duo hadn't gone far from the portal, opting to stick around the place they thought to be a campsite from earlier. Check it out some more.

Turns out it was the site of a massacre.

They were supposed to make headway a handful of kilometers in one direction before circling around. Their objective was clearly defined by the local guild - investigate the disturbances on the border between Planeptune and Lastation. Organized monster movement. But after this, after stumbling across a portal and bearing witness to such a site, neither of the duo wanted to investigate more.

Not today, anyways.

Trees upon trees, bushes upon bushes, hills, rocks, pines, birds, flowers, flies, whispers of death, the stench… this whole new world looked a whole lot like home, though…

"Does it have to do with the squishy people, Iffy?"

"Squishy people?" Compa's sudden phrase made IF sick to her stomach. "You shouldn't talk about these people like that."

As soon as she said that, Compa looked terribly embarrassed. Without a word, IF could tell she was quite apologetic for such inconsideration.

"I just want to get out of here…" Compa whimpered, inching towards her companion out of what might just be fear.

"Look," IF knelt to the ground, surveying the circle of bodies before them. "We know this isn't Gamindustri. What we're finding here is a huge deal for us… and whoever these people are. Think about it."

"I'm not-"

"Hey!" IF interjected. "I know it's not easy, but we should definitely scout out more of the area. We'll head back in just a handful of hours, say, three. No more. Okay?"

She wanted to say that she wanted to make contact with the locals, if any were still alive, but at this point that was unlikely to say the least. Whatever passed through here must've been insane…

Compa nodded. At this point, anything to get out of here sooner would be better.

"Thanks for understanding. So…" IF rose to her feet once more, studying the air, the plants, how their branches lie. "That way looks promising."

She pointed into the brush. Some plant stalks had been snapped, twigs broken. Nature was definitely disturbed over there - and that meant someone had been there before.

With no better time but the present to make new ground, IF lead the way out from the portal and into the unknown.

* * *

"There's no way we'll be able to contain this… area for long."

Under the shade of a dark green tent lie four uniformed men around a table. The table was littered with papers, a powerful radio, and three laptops.

All eyes were on the map: New York. Vermont. Massachusetts. Canada. In the middle of the three US states was a small red circle drawn in sharpie along with four dots - but beyond it lie another circle. One from the border of Canada to New York City itself.

"We've already had breaches into Austerlitz and West Stockbridge. There's no way we can keep this under wraps any longer."

"Sir," one of them tipped their patrol cap. On the front lie the insignia of a Sergeant Major. "Media's been reporting heavily on the closure of the turnpike and the movement of troops and aircraft as well. This is getting out of hand, fast."

"I know. I know."

Amongst them all, one individual outranked everyone. An aging Colonel by the name of Thornton had seen a lot through his lifelong career. Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, a war on terror… he knew how this was going. He'd feared it all his life.

"We're losing control." The words slipped from his mouth like nails on a chalkboard.

"And with the limited resources we have, the posture set up for us…"

The Colonel cleared his throat, cutting off the words of his colleague. He demanded respect. He demanded thought.

"We'll make do." He concluded. "As we always have."

"We're not requesting more assistance? The New York, Massachusetts and Vermont National Guard are ready to be sent in on a moment's notice. States across the nation are concerned about similar occurrences and would be eager to chip in. You do understand how insane your course of action is, sir?"

All eyes were on Thornton. He made the orders, and here he was holding the balance of the future in his fingertips. Quarantine had to be impossible.

"The logistics, the media blackout… people want to know why their families have been cut off, sir. You know how the UN is already on us as it is. You must've been briefed, how China is-"

"I never took you for an imbecile, Sergeant Major." The colonel's grumble commanded. He never called someone by their rank before. "We've been coming up with this together. We'll contain this, study it, and bring it down slowly. Gently. No international incidents. No domestic violence. And if we can't solve our issues here and now then I'll be damned."

"Sir, we'll all be damned."

"So we will."

* * *

"And that's why I think this is bullshit."

I concluded as a matter of fact, kicking my legs up over the edge of the foxhole letting my raggedy old hair, greasy as hell, hang loose in the wind.

"You're telling me." Shumway rolled his eyes.

We had broken out a little two piece package of MRE gum, the cinnamon kind, and passed a piece around. It was nice. The little things. How we can relax, though I could swear we were being watched.

"Yeah, I'm telling you. Who else would I been able to tell over the past week? I'll indulge you." I looked into his eyes as if I were trying to spook him. "No one."

"Funny." He plucked the radio out of my lap, chewing.

"Hey, give me that back!" I frowned, taken off guard all of a sudden.

"I order you to let me see the radio." He didn't even bother to look at me as he began turning it on.

"Shumway, I bet you five bucks you aren't even a sergeant. Give me that back."

"Wh-" he paused everything. Letting the device hang loosely in his arms, I snatched it out from under him. "What did you just-!"

"Shumway." I flipped the radio off, sighing. "What's your… deal, man?"

"Doc, I am- I am most definitely an NCO." He didn't say anything else before looking towards the portal.

"You'd be an idiot if you think I believe you. The hell kind of lie is that?"

"I-"

"Where's the integrity? The honor?" I turned the tables, flipping the values on the pseudosergeant. "Who do you want to be, Shumway?"

"I…" he was definitely at a loss for words. He looked away, crossing his arms over his messed up rank tape.

"And hey, where's your weapon?" I toned my voice down in an attempt to be less of an asshole. "Did you just forget it or something?"

"I… Doc," he sighed, cracking under the pressure. Gosh, was this really impact him that much? "Doc, look. I'm a damn private. Does it matter? We're soldiers. We do tough shit. We're here."

"I'm not judging." I nodded, keeping myself collected.

"We're all dead anyways, Doc." He looked me in the eyes. Heaving with sadness, Shumway continued. "I always wanted to be a drill sergeant."

I shrugged. "Not the dumbest aspiration, I'll tell you."

"I always wanted to call cadence. To be that figure of authority. To be the best, to radiate professionalism. To have that aura. You know what I mean."

"Mhm…" I narrowed my eyes. "So you went on some fictitious self indulgence spree at the point of no return? Yeah. Okay."

Shumway looked at me funny, but seemed to be okay with my elaboration.

"And your weapon?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Left it behind. I know, I didn't maintain my equipment."

"You went into the unknown, knowing the dangers, without means to stay alive?"

He looked away. I understood.

"Ah… sorry for asking."

"We're soldiers, Doc. We're supposed to be resilient. We're supposed to be strong."

"I know, man." I looked at the radio in my arms.

It was flipped, instinctively by me, to the civilian frequency for country music. That's the frequency I found it on when I first got it. Right now our song was static.

I weighed the radio in my arms, weighed the blood of another.

"We're supposed to be strong." I whispered. "I feel that."

And I did. I did.

For the rest of that day into night, I did.


End file.
